TomTom reports fourth quarter and full year results

TomTom reports fourth quarter and full year results

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Financial headlines Q4 2012

• Revenue down 19% year on year to €289 million

• Gross margin up 7 percentage points year on year to 53%

• One-off tax gain of €80 million; proceeds to be received in H1 2013

• EPS of €0.45 and adjusted EPS¹ of €0.13 (Q4 2011: €0.05 and €0.16 respectively)

• Net cash flow from operating activities of €91 million

Financial headlines FY 2012

• Revenue down 17% year on year to €1,057 million

• Gross margin up 2 percentage points year on year to 52%

• OPEX down 12% year on year to €484 million²

• EPS of €0.58 and adjusted EPS of €0.40 (2011: €-1.97 and €0.55 respectively)

• Net debt of €86 million compared to €194 million at the end of 2011

Operational headlines Q4 2012

• HD Traffic 6.0 launched in US powered by 75 million probes

• New LBS portal launched for developers

• PND market share in Europe increased to 50%

• Partnership with LoJack Corporation to drive WEBFLEET sales in North American market

Outlook full year 2013

• Revenue in the range of €900 million to €950 million

• Adjusted EPS of around €0.20; €0.25 adjusted for the introduction of lifetime maps

Key figures

Change percentages are based on non-rounded figures

¹Earnings per share adjusted for impairment, acquisition-related amortisation and restructuring charges on a post-tax basis in 2011 and acquisition-related amortisation on a post-tax basis and the €80 million tax benefit in 2012.

²Excluding €512 million impairment charge booked in Q2 2011.

TomTom's Chief Executive Officer, Harold Goddijn

"We delivered financial results in the quarter modestly ahead of expectations with a high gross margin and strong cash flow.

"Early in 2012 we implemented a new product unit structure to increase development efficiency and reduce time to market by componentising our core map, navigation and traffic content and technologies. The year ahead will be a pivotal year as new products start to reach our customers. R&D investments will continue to shift to new technologies, away from legacy technologies, to increase returns."

Outlook 2013

We expect the macro-economic situation to remain challenging. In this environment Consumer will focus on broadening its revenue base consistent with its brand while limiting the revenue decline from PNDs. We expect our core PND markets to decline by 15-20% in volume year over year. Automotive revenue development will largely depend on the new car sales and take rates of our current partners. For Licensing we expect revenue to be broadly stable. Business Solutions is expected to continue to grow strongly.

For the group we expect full year revenue of between €900 million and €950 million. We expect to deliver adjusted earnings per share of around €0.20. Adjusted for the negative impact of deferred revenue related to PND introductions with lifetime maps in the European market, this would be €0.25.

Business review Q4 2012

Consumer released an update to the Android app, making it available to a broader range of smartphones.

We launched our new cloud-based Location Based Services (LBS) Platform and Developer Portal. The platform provides developers with the content and tools to create location-enabled applications. These applications include map display, routing, traffic and geocoding.

We launched the latest version of our real-time traffic information service in the US. With over 75 million probes in the US alone, HD Traffic 6.0 is able to report the location and length of traffic jams on highways more accurately than the previous version. During the quarter we signed a partnership with Telenav to deliver TomTom HD Traffic to Telenav's mobile navigation customers.

Automotive is affected by tough conditions for its customers in the European car market. It is progressing well with the execution of its modular strategy. We aim to sell OEMs and their tier one suppliers, easy-to-integrate maps, traffic and navigation components that provide low development cost, fast time-to-market and the best end-user experience for their customers.

Business Solutions grew its WEBFLEET subscriber base in the quarter by 33% year on year to 239,000 (Q4 2011: 180,000). The customer base passed the 19,000 mark, the largest in the fleet management services industry. Our partnership with Tracker is developing well and sales in South Africa grew markedly. Just after quarter end, we entered into an alliance with LoJack Corporation. The US based stolen vehicle recovery specialist will add WEBFLEET to its product offering and sell it through its extensive dealership network.

Financial review

Revenue split

Change percentages are based on non-rounded figures

Revenue

Revenue for the quarter was €289 million which is 19% lower compared to the same quarter last year (Q4 2011: €357 million) and 6% higher compared to the previous quarter (Q3 2012: €274 million). The year on year decrease is mainly driven by lower Consumer and Automotive sales.

Consumer revenue for Q4 decreased year on year by 23% from €242 million in Q4 2011 to €187 million in Q4 2012. The year-on-year decrease is mainly the result of PND demand continuing to be less skewed towards the fourth quarter. PND sales in EMEA were relatively strong and we saw revenue from the SportWatch nearly double year on year albeit from a small base. Sequentially, Consumer revenue increased by €15 million or 9%, mainly due to our higher market share in Europe and seasonality in PND demand in the US.

The PND market size in Europe was 2.5 million units compared to 3.2 million units in the same quarter of last year. TomTom's European market share increased from 47% in Q4 2011 to 50% in Q4 2012. The North American market size was 2.5 million units compared to 3.7 million units last year. Our market share in North America was 19% compared to 27% in the prior year.

Automotive revenue for Q4 2012 was €44 million, which is a decrease of 21% compared to €56 million in Q4 2011 and 10% sequentially (Q3 2012: €49 million). The year on year decline reflects the tough conditions in the European automotive industry which continue to constrain new car sales.

Licensing generated revenue of €37 million in this quarter, a decline of 7% compared to the €40 million in Q4 2011, mainly due to lower revenue coming from third party PND vendors. Sequentially, revenue increased by €4.0 million or 12% (Q3 2012: €33 million) as a result of higher revenue from smartphone and internet customers.

Revenue for Business Solutions in the quarter was €20 million, representing an 8% increase year on year (Q4 2011: €19 million) and a 6% increase sequentially (Q3 2012: €19 million). The year on year increase is the result of the growth in WEBFLEET subscription revenue. The partner model for geo-expansion is increasing the relative contribution of WEBFLEET revenue in the mix.

Hardware revenue development reflected the decline in Consumer PND and Automotive hardware sales. Hardware revenue in the quarter decreased by 24% year on year to €191 million (Q4 2011: €250 million). Sequentially, Hardware revenue increased by 13% (Q3 2012: €169 million).

Revenue from Content & Services for the quarter was €98 million, an 8% decrease year on year (Q4 2011: €107 million) and a 6% decrease sequentially (Q3 2012: €105 million). Content & Services revenue accounted for 34% of revenue for the quarter (Q4 2011: 30%; Q3 2012: 38%).

Gross margin

The gross margin for the quarter was 53% compared with 46% in Q4 2011 and 55% in Q3 2012. The year on year increase is mainly due to the accelerated write-off of pre-paid third party service costs in Q4 2011 and one-off provision releases in the current quarter. Excluding the releases the gross margin for the current quarter was 51%. Foreign exchange currency movements did not have a meaningful impact on the gross margin compared to last year and prior quarter. The normalised gross margin in Q4 2011 was 48%.

Operating expenses

The restructuring program initiated in Q4 2011 has made a visible impact on the lowering of our cost base in 2012. Total operating expenses for the quarter were €130 million compared to €156 million in Q4 2011, representing a 17% decrease year on year. €14 million out of the €26 million decrease is explained by the restructuring costs recognised in Q4 2011. Sequentially, operating expenses increased by €11 million or 9.5%.

The year on year reduction in operating expenses in the quarter was mainly visible in the areas of Marketing (-31%) and SG&A (-23%). In R&D we continue to invest in our innovation projects which resulted in a modest decrease of 3.2% for the quarter compared to Q4 2011. The amortisation of technology and databases decreased by 19% year on year as the result of the accelerated amortisation of certain technologies in Q4 2011.

The sequential increase in operating expenses is mainly due to the timing of R&D projects, which led to higher R&D expenses, and an increase in the SG&A expenses mainly as a result of higher property and personnel expenses.

Financial results

The net interest charge for the quarter was €2.4 million compared with €3.8 million in Q4 2011 and €3.2 million in Q3 2012. Interest paid for the quarter was €3.5 million. The amortisation of transaction costs related to the term loan and revolving credit facility amounted to €0.8 million.

The other financial result for the quarter was a loss of €0.3 million compared with a gain of €0.7 million in Q4 2011.The loss was mainly driven by our hedge results.

Tax

In the quarter we had a normalised income tax charge of €2.6 million, representing an effective tax rate of 11.7%. Due to an €80 million one-off tax gain as a result of a settlement of prior year tax issues with the Dutch tax authority, the total tax result was a gain of €77 million (Q4 2011: gain of €4.6 million). The normalised tax rate in Q4 2011, excluding a €5.9 million one-off tax gain as well as the tax effect of the restructuring charges was 20.7%.

Cash flows

The cash inflow from operations for the quarter was €98 million compared with €138 million in the same quarter last year. The year on year reduction is mainly because the cash inflow from reduced working capital was lower in the quarter than in the corresponding quarter of last year.

The cash flow used in investing activities during the quarter was €15 million, an increase of €3.3 million compared to €11 million in Q4 2011.

Cash flows used in financing activities amounted to €48 million mainly reflecting the net effect of repayments made during the quarter net of the proceeds from our new term loan.

Debt financing

On 31 December 2012 we made the final repayment on the outstanding amount of the loan we entered into in 2008 and we drew down on the new €250 million term loan.

This new term loan is part of the forward-start facility arrangement we signed in April 2011. It additionally includes a €150 million revolving credit facility, which remained unutilised on 31 December 2012. Netted with the transaction costs, the carrying amount of this €250 million loan at year end was €247 million.

Our net debt position on 31 December 2012 was €86 million, down from €194 million at the end of 2011. Our leverage ratio was reduced from 0.9 at the end of 2011 to 0.5 at the end of 2012.

Balance sheet

As at 31 December 2012, accounts receivable plus other receivables were €268 million compared with €236 million at 31 December 2011. The increase is mainly attributed to the income tax receivable balance partly offset by a decrease in the trade receivables balance. The inventory level was reduced to €44 million from €66 million at the end of last year and €59 million at the end of previous quarter. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter were €164 million compared to €194 million at the end of the prior year.

Current liabilities were €475 million compared to €845 million in the same quarter last year. The year on year decrease is mainly due to the full repayment of our previous borrowings partly offset by the current portion of our new term loan.

At the end of the quarter we had shareholders' equity of €838 million up from €742 million at the beginning of the quarter.

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Consolidated income statements